Nepalese Food Quiz Answers

Winners are grinners and losers are boozers. (I couldn’t find anything else to rhyme with losers. And let’s face it, they probably need to drown their sorrows.)

Here are the results of “Best Black Tea – A Nepalese Food Quiz” posted a couple of weeks ago. Check out the answers along with a few tidbits about my experiences and then the winners will be revealed.

D

1. Tato Dudh – Hot Milk (or as one of our Sherpas called it, Hot Millick). Powdered milk never tasted so good. Offered at breakfast (into which one could mix instant coffee powder – shudder – or hot chocolate powder – that’s more like it) and also after dinner for that last warming drink before beddy-byes.

I

2. Anda Tarkari – Egg Curry. Admittedly, probably my least favourite of all the curries we were offered but still highly edible.

B

3. Saag – Spinach. But like no spinach you’ve ever tasted. Usually plucked fresh from one of the village gardens, I could eat this by the plateful (and occasionally needed to as my inherent low iron levels struggled with the lack of red meat on offer).

H

4. Alu Paratha – Flat bread stuffed with potato. One member of the group reckoned this tasted just like her Irish grandmother’s potato bread. I guess some food is universal.

E

5. Suji Ko Haluwa – Semolina Pudding. We were constantly spoilt with dessert after our evening meals – pineapple slices, chocolate pudding, apple pie – but the semolina pudding was the most Nepalese offering. One member of the group couldn’t bring herself to eat it as she was force-fed semolina pudding at boarding school as a child. Food has memories.

G

6. Chayote – Spiky Gourd. Our meals were a vegetarian’s delight (luckily for the one vegetarian in our group) with a multitude of different vegetables, most of them familiar but with the occasional new introduction. Chayote tastes a bit like zucchini (courgette).

J

7. Dal Bhat – Lentil Soup with Rice. This is Nepal’s national dish and is eaten in copious quantities. My absolute favourite dish of the trip. For our meals, the dal was poured onto the rice. One member of the group got most distressed when one of the Sherpas put some vegetable curry on top of her rice so there was no room for the dal. One must eat dal bhat as it is meant to be eaten.

F

8. Phini Roti – Fried Roti (also known as Tibetan Bread). We ate many different versions of bread but I think this would be my favourite. It is soft and slightly chewy with a hint of sweetness.

A

9. Rajma Tarkari – Kidney Bean Curry. Probably my favourite curry, this was absolutely delicious. And yes, we all know what happens when you eat a lot of beans but we were all in it together. Sharing is caring.

C

10. Momo – Dumpling. We were always served vegetable momos but they can also contain chicken. The first night these were offered, I was not feeling well and so was able to eat only one. I had to wait more than a week for them to reappear on the menu. (I was beginning to despair that they would not reappear at all.) I ate six.

So, how did you go? Here’s the results:

15 Points to Lynn at Life After 50 for being the first to provide all correct answers. However, she loses 5 points for not answering in numeric-alpha format (Rule #1). “But you said nothing would happen if we broke the rules!” Yeah. I lied. Don’t upset my system.

Oh, they were. I suspect, however, that they will never taste the same when made at home as they did in that beautiful clear mountain air. (Well, plus someone else did the cooking and food you don’t have to cook yourself always tastes better.)

I love learning new things. However, I would remember these new foods/meal better if I actually ate them, I’m sure. And I think you’re right – those wonderful meals can never be replicated at home. Thanks for this great post.

You’re right, Pam. I also think it’s not just the eating of them but the experience surrounding the eating of it that makes you remember. I still have vivid memories of dishes I ate on another community project trip to Peru six years ago. I’m sure I’ll remember these foods for much the same reason – the environment, the people and why I was there.

They DO look good, and it turns out I could eat TWO: B and G. Although the flavor of cooked spinach grosses me out. I suppose mine could be left out of the pot and eaten raw.

Hey–I might have been the sole non-trumpeting tent-guest! A unique position to be in for a near-celiac who often inadvertently digests minuscule musical inspirations. Perhaps it would have been a case of “What blows around, comes around.”

I would have insisted you try the cooked version first because it tasted so much better than what we think of as cooked spinach.

I have more of an issue with boiled eggs than I do with beans, hence my curry preferences. To be honest, if you’re picturing a campsite at bedtime sounding like the brass section of an orchestra, I don’t actually recall this happening. Maybe Nepalese beans are less windy.

Wow – you’re a tough game master!! Poor Barbara getting docked serious points like that!! My favourite line though? … As soon as we’re all located in the same city, I will present you with your very large, very shiny trophies at an elaborate awards ceremony.

I can hardly wait!

… but I won’t be having any hot milk, thank you. I wouldn’t drink milk as a child and I’m not about to start now. Ugh.

😀
Last night my brother-in-law was showing me a book on Oberammergau and I happened to say about one picture “It looks like there should be singing.” He looked the photo and then started singing “Hosanna” from Jesus Christ Superstar. Then I had the darn thing stuck in my head. Until the Eldest Son pointed out there could be worse songs to have stuck in my head. Well, that was the end because whenever anyone says anything about the worst earworm, my brain immediately starts singing that awful song from that awful Disneyland ride about the world not being very large. Argh!

Honestly, they could use that amusement ride as an interrogation technique. “We won’t let you off until you confess!”

Goodness me, they all sound so delicious! I guess I wasn’t feeling very well and off my food (most unlike me) when you posted the quiz, though I did correctly guess the spinach and saying that I got a bagful of spinach from the market this week and it was DELICIOUS! Best I have ever tasted. Am I an odd person loving spinach? So, let me get this clear, do we all need to be in your city AT THE SAME TIME to collect our very shiny trophies? I assume getting 1 point counts as a winner

I think the ‘like or loathe’ nature of spinach falls into the same camp as Brussels sprouts – it’s all in the way it’s cooked. Too many of us had bad experiences as children when green things were repeatedly turned grey by over-boiling and as a consequence have been turned off what can be an absolutely delicious vegetable if treated properly. Case in point – my kids love Brussels sprouts. At some point I plan to journey into the city to the Asian supermarket to see if they stock the same spinach as we had in Nepal. Hopefully one day we will grow it ourselves.

Oh, yes, all award recipients must be in attendance for the ceremony to proceed. In absentia awards are not available. Only those who scored 10 or above will be awarded trophies but all others are invited to the ceremony and will be given a Caramello Koala as an Encouragement Award.

Hey, I got 5 points! Yay! I can’t believe I got two right. The food does look delicious, especially the curries. (I love curry.) Funnily enough, the one thing I absolutely could not eat is semolina. I also used to get this as a kid and I hated it. I’d just skip dessert and have an extra spoonful of curry instead.

How I would love to be there in person to collect my trophy, but I am no longer a travelin’ woman, seeing as I now walk painfully, with three legs, and sometimes four, and move so slowly and look so pathetic that people are moved to kind gestures–holding doors, helping with parcels, etc—whenever I venture out into the public. In other words, I am a hermit. Let me know when the ceremony is, and I will pour a glass of wine and raise it to fair friends and a wonderful, if idiotic, occasion!

Hm. I shall have to think on this. I think it not impossible to coordinate a group of people on several continents and in numerous time zones to simultaneously raise a glass and congratulate the winners. Let me get back to you. 😀

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